Louisiana lands $156 million to help people get solar panels. See what's planned.

Apr. 22—Louisiana has been awarded a $156 million grant to deploy solar energy to homes and apartment buildings across the state, delivering a boost to renewables and an ongoing effort to create solar-powered hubs that can help residents when a hurricane knocks out the power grid.

The state Department of Energy and Natural Resources hailed the award Monday as a win for efforts to make the state more resilient in the face of hurricanes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected Louisiana and 59 other grantees across the country as it handed out $7 billion in total awards. The money comes from the federal Inflation Reduction Act championed by President Joe Biden and opposed by Louisiana's Republicans in Congress.

The award comes as environmental advocates have raised concerns about Gov. Jeff Landry's position on environmental initiatives. Landry, a Republican and a skeptic of the scientific consensus around climate change, has floated a dramatic reorganization of energy and coastal offices and tapped former oil lobbyist Tyler Gray as head of the rebranded Department of Energy and Natural Resources. Before Landry took office in January, the agency was called the Department of Natural Resources.

It was Gray who enthusiastically announced the news Monday. In a statement, Gray said that Louisiana is "uniquely positioned to benefit from this federal investment," given the state's population is concentrated in areas at high risk from hurricanes that have knocked out power to huge swaths of people in recent years.

It was former Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration that originally applied for the funding, telling the federal government in a grant application in October that it would "significantly expand" solar installations in the state and help low-income and disadvantaged communities benefit from the technology.

Edwards' administration highlighted Louisiana's particular vulnerability to climate change, which has exacerbated power disruptions.

Patrick Courreges, spokesperson for the DENR, said the state applied for $250 million in funding and was awarded $156 million. He said it was too early to say exactly when and how people will be able to tap into the money.

Monika Gerhart, executive director of Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association, suggested the grant would help to "close the funding gap for more than 20,000 rooftop systems." That, in turn, will create a "a significant number of well-paying jobs," she added, noting that a typical solar installer in Louisiana earns about $55,000 annually.

The DENR said in a news release that the program, called "Solar for Y'all," will help low-income people get solar panels on homes and apartments by upgrading homes to make them suitable for panels. The money will also go to create low-cost financing for solar, creating "equitable loan" programs for community resilience hubs, which are solar-powered centers that are designed to keep power when the grid goes down, among other things.

Gray also signaled to industrial facilities that the program won't interfere with existing plants that need uninterrupted power, saying the initiative will "enhance safety for our workforce both within and beyond the fence line, ensuring reliable and resilient energy supply."

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the $7 billion in new grants will reach 900,000 American households.

"The selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change," he said in a statement.

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